Jobs Report: Insurance Industry Growth Continues by Adding 1,700 Jobs in September
October 2, 2015 by Frank Klimko, Washington correspondent, BestWeek: frank.klimko@ambest.com
WASHINGTON – The U.S. insurance industry added 1,700 jobs in September, according to figures released Oct. 2 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The seasonally adjusted 0.07% increase for September over August shows a continuation of insurance industry growth. The growth rate for September was slightly more than the 0.02% adjusted growth rate reported for August, according to the BLS report.
Updates to BLS data show the insurance industry added just 600 jobs between July and August, after initially reporting an increase of 2,300 jobs in August (Best’s News Service, Sept. 4, 2015).
The adjusted number was far less than the 10,400 jobs the industry added between May and June. The most jobs added in one month during the industry’s job growth run were the 11,000 between December 2014 and January 2015.
Overall, insurance industry employment for September was 2,555,800, an increase of 73,000 — about 3% above September 2014’s level.
Total nonfarm payroll employment nationwide increased by 142,000 in September, while the unemployment rate held at 5.1%. The number of unemployed persons, 7.9 million, changed little. Job gains occurred in information services, health care and social assistance, as well as leisure and hospitality. Hospitals accounted for 16,000 of the jobs gained in September. Financial activities and manufacturing industries remained flat while the mining sector lost jobs.
The economy added jobs in September at a pace below that seen earlier in the year, as slowing growth abroad and global financial turmoil have weighed on economic activity, said Jason Furman, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. However, the unemployment rate remains at its lowest level since early 2008, and the private sector has added 13.2 million jobs over 67 straight months of job growth — the longest streak on record of U.S. job growth, Furman said.
The BLS reports insurance industry total payrolls monthly on a seasonally adjusted basis, along with the current month’s non-farm payrolls. Separately, data by insurance industry segments — broken out by various insurance carrier and non-carrier categories — are available only on an unadjusted basis for the prior month.
Between July and August, half of the industry sectors saw employment growth. Employment improved in direct life insurance carriers (up 0.52% to 366,800 jobs); direct health and medical insurance carriers (up 0.29% to 521,700 jobs); direct title insurance and other direct insurance carriers (up 0.38%, 79,000 jobs) and reinsurance carriers (up 2.34% to 26,200 jobs). Jobs fell in four sectors: direct property/casualty insurers (down 0.51% to 524,900 jobs); insurance agencies and brokerages (down 0.33% to 735,600 jobs); claims adjusting (down 1.76% to 50,300 jobs); and third-party administration of insurance funds (down 0.78% to 177,400 jobs).
Seven of the eight insurance sectors showed job growth over August 2014, led by: direct life insurance carriers (up 5.77%); direct health and medical insurance carriers (up 5.46%); third-party administration of insurance funds (up 3.62%); reinsurance carriers (up 3.56%); insurance agencies and brokerages (up 2.59%); direct title insurance and other direct insurance carriers (up 1.80%); and direct property/casualty insurers (up 0.56%). Only claims adjusting showed a drop, down 6.16%.
Wages increased in all seven insurance sectors between July 2015 and August 2015, led by: reinsurance carriers (up 5.11%); direct property/casualty insurers (up 5.04%); third-party administration of insurance funds (up 5.01%); direct life and health insurance carriers (up 3.08%); insurance agencies and brokerages (up 2.80%); claims adjusting (up 2.31%); and direct title insurance and other direct insurance carriers (up 1.59%).
On an annual basis, wages remained higher in all seven industry sectors in August 2015, led by: reinsurance carriers (up 17.35%); direct title insurance and other direct insurance carriers (up 10.63%); direct property/casualty insurers (up 9.73%); direct life and health insurance carriers (up 5.05%); insurance agencies and brokerages (up 4.05%); claims adjusting (up 1.46%); and third-party administration of insurance funds (up 0.54%).
